The rural town of Cuamba is in the north of Mozambique and is the dustiest place I have ever been in all my travels in Africa. We started our journey to Cuamba after landing in the city of Nampula, from there it was a six-hour drive on a rough corrugated dirt road to reach Cuamba.
My daughter Mikhaela and I conducted the work and found the going very difficult in comparison to other parts of Mozambique. This difficulty was mostly due to the strong Muslim presence in the area, as they are largely uninterested in engaging with our Bible Workers or attending our programs (although we did baptise 8 Muslims at the conclusion of the work).
There were 27 Bible workers who did the groundwork before we arrived, working in five main areas, which became the areas where we conducted the programs. The messages were translated into the local language called “Macua”. Each night we would make appeals and could see that the Holy Spirit was touching hearts. The groundwork that the Bible workers had done was clearly bearing fruit.
Overall, the programs went very smoothly with the Muslim population very peaceful and perfect weather everyday. The evenings were beautiful and clear which was fantastic for the attendees. The only problem we had was the dust. Cuamba is normally a dry place, but being in the middle of the dry season didn’t help, everything is constantly coated in dust from the motor vehicles and wind. At the programs each night, with around 400 children at each site constantly moving around, the dust was so bad at times we could hardly breath. Towards the end of the program our throats were getting very worn from the constant lectures and the extra dust we inhaled.
On our final Sabbath in Cuamba 198 souls were baptized in two locations. Because of the dry season, the rivers were not flowing which just left us with very stale water to use. One of the locations for the baptisms was where women wash their clothes and the water was filthy! Even the candidates had a look on their face like, “Do I have to go under that?” But it was the best we could do and everything ran smoothly in the end.
After the baptisms were finished we conducted our ceremony in the local church and a hired hall. Each candidate received a Bible and baptismal certificate, as well as a simple meal of juice, bread and bananas.
The church is small in Cuamba, so three of the Bible worker team have been left behind for 6 months to continue studying with the newly baptised candidates and to help the local pastor and elders continue to establish the new members in the faith.
Please pray for these new church members and for the growth of the church in Cuamba.
In His service
Tony Rykers
